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Using Data to Reach
the Experience-Focused Traveler

By Todd Schulte

Marketing of timeshares performs best when it is closely
aligned with the unique interests, preferences, and needs of prospects. That
means that the unique array of experiences your timeshare property
offers—whether on-site or nearby—can be the basis for improved focus in your
marketing.

By doing this you’ll know who to market to and what to
emphasize. And equally important, you’ll know who not to market to and what not
to emphasize. Great brands understand that they can’t be everything to
everybody.

Applying this to timeshare, it’s highly unlikely that any given
property is the best for golfing, and watersports, and culinary activities, and
ecotourism, and extreme adventures, and…well, the list goes on. But if you determine
what your strongest attractions and amenities are and then concentrate and
customize your marketing to prospects who truly value those experiences, you will
improve your odds of moving them to the next step on the path to purchase.

So how do you know what experiences people value most?

The best way is to work with a third-party data partner, who
can reveal what your sales leads (as well as thousands of other prospects)
actually spend their money on year after year, across a wide range of consumer
spending categories.

Partnering with a third-party data provider offers clear
insight into the priorities, spending patterns, and loyalty patterns of your
prospects in ways that your own in-house data likely can’t reveal.

There is currently more data available to marketers to use
in their promotions than ever before. With so much data available to timeshare marketers,
there’s no reason not to become a truly data-empowered one. With the right
partner and a willingness to invest in some testing and validating, the return
on investment for every marketing dollar can be substantially better, resulting
in closing more sales and booking more guests.

The Best of the
Season

By Howard Nusbaum

It’s summer time, which for millions of Americans means
vacations. And for our industry, this means show-time as we deliver on the
dream of better vacationing for our consumers. That is if they take their earned vacation time.

There is good news on that front. Project: Time Off found
that Americans are now using more vacation time than they have in the past
decade, according to their latest report The State of American Vacation 2017. This is, of course, great news for our
industry.

Even with American travel being up, our ARDA advocates have remained
busy this past legislative season trying to ensure this trend continues. I’d
like to share some State Affairs advocacy successes and recognize the
achievements and progress our advocates have made on your behalf.

It was a busy year around the country, with bills and issues
in dozens of states and jurisdictions, which tallied up an impressive list of
successes. For example, in a recent Florida win, legacy resorts will now have
more tools at their disposal, such as more achievable extensions to timeshare
plans and important product definitions now memorialized in state law.

In South Carolina, we passed a successful piece of
legislation that helps timeshare owners and their HOAs stay safe from transfer
and resale scams. And in Hawaii, we were able to protect consumer privacy by
protecting the integrity of timeshare owners’ lists.

Looking to the Caribbean region, we mitigated onerous tax
issues on behalf of timeshare owners in the USVI, while also working diligently
on behalf our owners and industry in Puerto Rico and St. Marten. These are just
a few of the successes that our State Affairs team have accomplished in the
past year.

With these successes, we hope to make vacationing with
timeshare better for each and every one of our consumers. We want to make sure
that vacation usage continues to rise, while preventing any obstacles that
could interfere with your vacations. So, go take your vacation this summer, I
know I am looking forward to soaking up a wonderful summer right alongside our
consumers!